Happy (belated) Holidays to everyone!

The results are finally in! The writers at Ambigram.com are proud to start of the year with some fantastic ambigram work from artists all around the world. Once again, the submissions did not only meet, but most certainly exceeded expectations. For the first time in ACAC’s short history, we have a tie for first place. Once again, determining the winner of this Ambigram Challenge was even more challenging then before. I truly think that the artists are trying to make our lives difficult by submitting ambigrams that are close to perfection!

The Results

[NOTE: All designs are copyrighted by the respective artists.  We have permission to post them here, but you must get permission from the artist for any other use of their design, or to post them elsewhere.]

1a. John Langdon – http://www.johnlangdon.net/

1b. Daniel Dostal – http://daneel75.wordpress.com/

It was impossible to choose between those two ambigrams, so they both earned top honors. Regardless from which direction we looked at them, they remained equal in our eyes.

John Langdon’s ambigram is intricate yet simple, and that’s what makes it beautiful. It is 100% legible, the type matches the holiday theme, and the flourishes are well done, yet not overdone. It’s a perfect example of an ambigram that is simple at a glance, but complex on so many levels.

Daniel Dostal’s trademark style (for most of his ambigram work) is including a background or a visual element which does not only convey the meaning of, but is also seamlessly integrated with the ambigram. When you look at his work, you notice the hierarchy of the different elements, how well they work individually, but most of all, how well they work together. Just as John’s ambigram, it is beautiful on many levels, yet easy to read and understand.

2. Michael Irving – http://home.comcast.net/~mirving/site/

In this ambigram, Michael uses the (almost) lack of color & the added graphics to subtly convey the meaning behind the phrase which he has chosen. Nice job Michael!

3. Daan Juttman – http://dahtamnay.blogspot.com/

Another beautiful mirror ambigram, which seemed to have been a trend in this ACAC. The background element and the mistletoe leaves seemed a bit mechanical in appearance, distracting us from the ambigram itself. However, the lettering was very well done, with a very consistent style and great readability.

4. Bastian Pinnenberg – http://unterart.wordpress.com/

Bastian came up with another unique solution. The only issue that we saw is aesthetically, it did not say ‘happy holidays’, as the blackletter-esque typography was somewhat heavy. But that aside, wonderful solution to cover both holidays!

5. Daniel Sanches – http://elkiosco2.blogspot.com/

This is one of the several non-English ambigrams we received this time around, and it was a good solution. The only trouble with it was legibility, as the transition from letter to letter was a bit unclear, especially V/I & A/D.

Other submissions

Scott Kim

Tomás_Castañeda

Rebecca May

Deden_Rohman

Björn Wichmann

A word on backgrounds
Backgrounds are not a requirement when designing an ambigram; in fact, they sometimes distract from the beauty and simplicity of it. But should you decide to use an background, try to integrate it with the ambigram well and not just have just a visual element that takes away from unique appearance & individuality of each ambigram. It helps to focus on the ambigram first; once you have a working solution, think about the meaning of the ambigram and what you can use to further convey it’s meaning. It could be a subtle use of color (See Michael Irving’s ambigram) or a visual element that enhances the definition of the ambigram (See Daniel Dostal’s ambigram.) Remember that an ambigram is judged not only for its legibility/readability, but also for the overall design, use of color, typographic consistency, etc.

Once again, thank you to all the artists that took their time to design & submit their ambigrams. Let’s make 2010 the best ambigram year yet, and happy ambigramming!

Next Challenge: Valentine’s Day